RISE OF EROS

After some idle chit-chat with Nadila, she left back to her place and Andrew met his wives in the office. Carmen brought them some tea and cookies, then walked away leaving them alone.

"Do you think I should tell Candice the whole truth?" asked Andrew a little worried. Their wives turned to look at each other after hearing the question and after nodding their heads between them, Helena took the lead.

"Honney, we agree with whatever you decide, but honestly we don't think there should be any problem with telling her." Andrew looked at his wives in confusion and asked, "Why do you think that?"

"Well, she received the blessing of your divinity without being your wife, concubine, or employee, so it's easy to assume she has strong feelings for you, so we don't think she would betray you," Helena replied.

Andrew fell into deep thought. What Helena was saying made sense to him, even Fluffy had said something similar, but Andrew had checked her with his Eros eyes and had seen no such thing, so he doubted.

At that moment Fluffy's voice was heard in his mind, "The master checked her before receiving the blessing and when he hid the truth from her, so he could only see interest and distrust respectively."

Andrew didn't understand what Fluffy meant and asked, "What do you mean?", to which Fluffy replied, "If the master had seen her before you lied to her, you would have noticed everything, but the master ignored me. You should have kissed her."

"Damn bastard, are you still going on with that, can you be a little more serious," Andrew retorted as he heard Fluffy talking nonsense, but Fluffy replied seriously, "I am very serious. I don't lie to you, remember that your destiny and mine are linked".

Fluffy's strange seriousness made Andrew doubt. Now he didn't know what to believe and the headache intensified. Not wanting to be mortified any longer, he decided to call his trusted men and ask their opinion.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Fluffy and his wives, but he still felt uneasy and wanted to hear all opinions, so he called Oliver, Marie, and Castor to the office.

When they arrived, Andrew told them everything that had happened in detail, as he wanted an honest and informed response. When he finished telling them, the office fell silent and Andrew, couldn't help but ask again, "What do you guys think?".

Unexpectedly the first to speak was Marie, but she did not contribute anything to the problem, as she only said, "I'm sorry young master, but I'm not very good at that kind of problem, so I'll refrain from giving my opinion."

Although Andrew nodded in agreement, inwardly he cursed her for running away without giving an opinion. Next to speak was Oliver, "Young master, I honestly don't think you should be revealing your secret left and right.

Although Candice is an ally and has been truthful, we don't know what she will think if she learns that you are a candidate for Eros god, so I propose that if you intend to tell her everything you request a powerful soul contract from a scribe."

Oliver's response was just as Andrew imagined it. He knew that Oliver always looked at the worst-case scenario and took action to prevent it, so he was not surprised by his suggestion, but for some reason, Andrew was reluctant to do so and his wives had a similar feeling.

Oliver as a good observer, noticed Andrew and his wives' nonconformity, so he added, "Of course, if you do that, the trust that has been built up will be completely destroyed."

Andrew understood what Oliver was saying, but he was also sure that the nonconformity he felt in implementing this plan was not due to that, but he could not explain it.

At that moment Castor intervened and said something that surprised everyone, "Bro, I think you're putting too much spin on something you already know." Andrew was taken by surprise and couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean?", to which Castor replied.

"I will do my analysis. I don't know your relationship with that woman well, as I have only met her once, but from that interaction, I could tell that you have feelings for each other, you just don't dare to express them, so the answer to this problem must already be clear to you."

Castor drank some tea and continued, "Besides, this is a problem that we as guardians should not intervene in, I think it is something for you and sisters Carolina, Helena, and Aki to decide."

After that Castor continued drinking his tea, leaving everyone in the office stunned, as none of them expected such an analysis from Castor. The most astonished were Andrew's wives, as they did not expect him to support them.

Castor, like Oliver, was a guardian of Andrew, so it would be normal for him to share the same idea as Oliver, but the girls seemed to forget that Castor is Andrew's childhood friend and sworn brother and although he is now a guardian, that fact did not change.

Castor even receiving the guardian seal, considered himself Andrew's friend and brother first, so he would never evaluate things like Oliver, he would always look out for Andrew's feelings first, before his safety.

In other words, Castor was the opposite of Oliver. The latter always preferred to warn Andrew to evaluate everything first, to avoid problems, which meant thinking rationally, while Castor preferred Andrew to do what he wanted and would help him solve the problems he caused.

It wasn't that one of them was wrong, but that they had two different ways of protecting. Even Oliver noticed this quirk and although he didn't share it he respected it because he knew Castor was real, he even came to think it wasn't a bad system, he would be the preventer and Castor the solver.

Andrew like Oliver noticed this and it only warmed his heart because although he considered Castor his brother, he had come to realize that he still fell short of the affection Castor had for him.

"You picked a good guardian master. You should listen to him," Fluffy said with a hint of affection, which was clearly not directed at Andrew, but at Castor. Andrew didn't know it, but Castor had earned Fluffy's admiration with his comment.

Andrew took a deep breath and said earnestly, "Well, I'll take Brother Castor's advice. I'll tell Candice everything, so Oliver and Castor, start preparing for the consequences."

They both responded with a short, "Yes." Oliver was not in the least upset that Andrew did not follow his advice because after listening to Castor, he also believed that Andrew should do whatever he wanted.

Certainly, he thought he should keep Andrew from getting into trouble, but at that moment he remembered that Andrew was a god candidate, meaning he was above everyone else, he didn't have to worry about nonsense and do whatever he wanted, and his job as a guardian was to protect his from the trouble of his decisions.

While Oliver was doing this inner reflection, a pigeon flew into the office and landed on Andrew's desk. Everyone recognized the bird as one of the ones sent by Candice, so Andrew didn't hesitate and picked up the message.

The message was short, "Thousand Delights Restaurant, 6:00 pm, tomorrow." That was all it said. Andrew flipped the little leaf over and wrote "I'll be there", placed it on the pigeon's leg, and sent it on its way.

After the pigeon left, everyone looked at Andrew, as if waiting for him to say something, and then he spoke, "The appointment will be tomorrow at 6:00 pm at the restaurant The Thousand Delights."

He paused and continued, "Find out everything about the place to avoid any danger, Oliver will escort me, Castor will protect the Heavenly Palace and Marie will follow me in the shadows. Also, call all Shadow members and have them guard the red light district just in case."

Andrew's orders seemed somewhat excessive, but they still assisted in agreement and left to carry them out. Andrew and his wives were left alone in the office again and he asked them, "What do you think will happen when I tell her the truth?"

"She won't believe you," Carolina immediately said, to which Helena and Aki immediately laughed. Andrew and Carolina hearing them, also caught on and started laughing.

After calming down, Helena spoke up, "Well, Sister Carolina is right. I doubt anyone would believe a story like that," but it was Aki who came up with a solution that no one expected.

"Why don't you ask Fluffy if there is any way to prove to her that everything is true?". The girls knew about their divine beast and that his name was Fluffy, although they couldn't see or hear him, but for Aki to propose that surprised everyone and at that moment Fluffy spoke up, "That girl is smart."

"Is there a way?" asked Andrew as he heard Fluffy speak and Fluffy replied, "Of course there is, in fact, there are many ways." Andrew adopting a serious expression asked, "Which one?".

"The easiest one is to have sex with her," Fluffy replied nonchalantly and Andrew could only grind his teeth and say angrily, "Be serious," to which Fluffy let out a derisive chuckle.

"Okay, jokes aside, you can take Oliver's suggestion," said Fluffy seriously. Andrew didn't understand and Fluffy noticing him spoke again, "Set up a binding soul contract and prove you're not lying."

"I thought scribe contracts didn't affect me?" asked Andrew confused and Fluffy explained, "That's true, but I'm not telling you to use those contracts, I'm telling you to create one with your divinity."

Seeing that Andrew was still confused, Fluffy explained how to do it and once he understood everything, he assisted in taking that suggestion as valid, now all that was left was to meet with Candice.